02| MISSING
Just like he expected, the Fairy Tail guild erupted into an uproar of yells and questions that Arcadios couldn't even keep up with. He was sure that the resident drunk at the bar had thrown her beer at someone while yelling with the crowd, but it was when lightning struck the floor that everyone got quiet.
Laxus Dryer, the new guild master of Fairy Tail, had shut the chaos down and was now staring Arcadios down with a hard look. It was new knowledge to learn that Makarov backed down from being the guild master, but seeing the old man looking stress free until five minutes ago had been a nice change.
"What the hell are you talking about Lucy being missing with Sting and five other mages?" Laxus barked out, clearly agitated that he already failed one member being guild master in such a short time. Yet he had no control over it. "Natsu said she was on a job for that damn magazine company she was working at before coming home."
Arcadios nodded, "She was, until Jason reported her missing three days ago. She never checked in with him, not since three months ago. Apparently Lucy was supposed to head over to the country of Stella, but when we checked we found Lucy never boarded the boat."
"Then where the hell is she?" Natsu questioned, fist closed as he tried to keep calm for once.
"We were able to track the last place she had been, a town called Clovis and found this in the dirt of a path way." Arcadios went to pull something from his pocket, opening his hand to reveal the one thing everyone knew Lucy would never just leave behind.
Loke's golden gate key.
It was the one clear sign that Lucy was taken, and that she either left Loke's key on purpose or someone who took her clearly knew about Lucy and her key's bonds. It struck some of the guild members that the celestial mage just couldn't get a break with life, because even as she lived a very normal life the past months- she was still targeted.
"We need to find her!" Natsu roared, control snapping as he stood up ready to go but Erza was quick to shove him down into a seat. Her hands firmly clamped around his shoulders to prevent him from running off without even thinking.
"Tell us everything that you know." Erza demanded, slamming her hand down on the table with a loud smack. Her brown eyes were intense, worry dancing through them for the sake of her team mate.
Erza had always meant to go by and visit Lucy in Crocus, knowing her blonde friend wrote articles there for a daily job. It never surprised Erza how easy it was for Lucy to slip back into a life of normality. Where she could get up and work, go home and sleep and then repeat. Knowing she was okay kept Erza from worrying, and visiting. All her attempts never worked out, and now Erza felt like a bad friend.
She had been so focused on Alvarez with Gray that she never thought to visit, also under the impression Natsu was somewhere around and surprisingly domesticated. Yet that wasn't the case and Erza knew she should have known better. To have been a better friend to equal how great Lucy was.
The guild doors opened once again, and this time two mages entered with two exceeds. Yukino was taking a deep breath, slightly flushed as she took a deep breath and set Frosh onto the floor. Rouge was next to her, looking tired like Yukino and Lector. Seeing Arcadios, Yukino perked up and began making her way over with hope shinning in her brown eyes.
"Have you found Sting?" Yukino asked softly, before her eyes fell onto the golden key in Arcadios's hand and froze, blood running cold. Her eyes then looked up to scan around the Fairy Tail Guild for her fellow blonde Celestial Mage, yet she was no where to be found. "Where is Lucy?"
Arcadios sighed softly, meeting Yukino's questioning eyes, "She's one of the seven missing with Sting. Reported three days ago." Then looked back at Erza as he set Loke's key down, pulling out a map.
When the map was unrolled fully in front of her on the table, Erza noticed the red circles. Seven of them exactly all in circular uniform. Furrowing her eyebrow, she knew that the red circle represented where exactly one of the seven people had gone missing, or estimated to have gone missing. One of these circles was Lucy, and somewhere on this map was where Lucy was at now. Where that was at was beyond Erza.
Yukino, on the other hand, knew that the only person who would have any type of answers was the lion spirit himself. He had to have known something concerning Lucy, what happened and possibly connecting it back to any one of those other six missing people, including Sting. The only thing that was throwing Yukino off was that Loke had not come out on his own gate.
"Has Loke opened his gate by chance, Arcadios?" Yukino softly asked, looking up at the Holy Knight with question.
"No." Arcadios answered, glancing down at the key. "The only action from that key was reported when it was found. When one of the guards picked his key up, it glowed but no one came out."
Yukino glanced at Freed the same time Levy did, but it was Levy who spoke up, "Is there a rune on Loke's key that's preventing him from coming here?"
Freed stepped up to look at the golden celestial key up close, frowning sensing nothing off. He wasn't sure why Loke wouldn't be able to open his own key, knowing how devoted Lucy's spirits where to her, he was sure it wasn't a choice. Yet when the key pulsated with a glow, Freed was quick to set it down and take a step back.
In a blinding bright light, Loke stood before the lot of them looking around like a wild animal before realization set in. He was not where he left Lucy. No he was now in the Fairy Tail guildhall, alone with no Lucy in sight, nor any of the other spirits Lucy had come to have in her beloved presence.
He had lost her.
"Damnit!" Loke snarled out, using regulus impact on the nearest table and taking a deep breath.
It was Mira putting a hand on Loke's shoulder that soothed his anger, yet it was quickly replaced by a tremble of his body as tears gathered in his eyes. This was the comfort Lucy wanted, no needed and yet she was gone and he had no fucking clue where.
"Tell us what happened Loke." Mira said softly, feeling the sorrow from the spirit and was heartbroken for him as well.
"What story was Bunny Girl chasing down out in Clovis that was gonna take her to Stella?" Gajeel questioned, eyebrow raised.
Loke sighed and shook his head before raising it to look at them one by one, "She wasn't chasing a story, she was chasing a lead on a key."
"A key?" Gray repeated, arms crossed. "Must have been one hell of a key if she was willing to leave the kingdom."
"The key means a lot to her." Loke muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I told her something felt off about it, the timing and everything. No one knew this information, and she claimed she was told through a dream."
"Didn't know about what, Loke?" Natsu was the one who spoke up now, breaking his silence and staring Loke down intensely.
He knew Lucy should be the one to tell them this, the truth of what happened but she was no where to be found and she had lied to Jason about why she needed to go after this lead. Lucy didn't want to risk her newfound job, so she lied about her story scope and went chasing a lead from a dream.
He wished he tried harder to stop her and listened to his gut feeling better.
"In the battle of Tartaros, you all became trapped in a spell called Alegria. Which immobilized you all in the form of Plutogrim. The only one who wasn't trapped had been Lucy, thanks to Horologium. Yet that left her to face her next problem alone, which was being the target for any of the nine demons to kill her for some sort of promotion from Mard Geer had set."
Loke's eyes flickered with emotion, remembering how vivid he could feel Lucy's, "She called out Virgo and myself, but we could barely hold our own and more were coming. Lucy was using her whip, and we were all trying our best but nothing was looking very bright and her magic was draining dangerously fast. She then made the choice of opening a third gate, Aquarius."
"That would strain her magic." Yukino gasped, not even able to fathom that Lucy went through this and said nothing to no one. Looking around the guild, it seemed like no one else thought so as well.
"Virgo and I yelled at her to close one of our gates when Aquarius did appear, catching Lucy right as she fell since she was using to much magic. Soon after Virgo and I were forced back into the celestial world, but the story is well known since it's the first this ever happened." Loke took a deep breath, "None of us Celestial Spirits would be able to defeat the demons, but Aquarius told Lucy who could- the Celestial Spirit King."
"He was there." Gajeel pointed out, clearly remembering seeing that big Celestial Spirit. He was impressed Bunny Girl even had his key.
"To summon the Celestial Spirit King is a sacrificial type of contract. A trade where a golden key is broken and the king is summoned." Loke wished it had been him instead of her. "Lucy was faced with a choice. One, turn her back on her guild or two, sacrifice Aquarius at her own request to save the guild. Lucy, she chose the second."
It was something none of them would have thought Lucy would have come to do. Of course they had wondered how they lived, how they were saved and yet none had asked. In return Lucy had not spoken about it, and was left to grieve alone. It was a realization many of them came to think of.
Lucy had made a sacrifice, and they'd left.
They'd left her too.
Natsu was the one hating himself the most, knowing something had to had happen. Yet he was so upset over Igneel, he had left with happy to train with the idea that if he gotten stronger he could protect his family and home.
To protect Lucy.
Yet the reality was he'd left her too with nothing but a note, a selfish note. She had to grieve alone not only the loss of Aquarius (a spirit Natsu knew her late mother passed down to her), but also dealt with the absence of himself and Happy, and the disbandment of the guild. Had she been lonely? Sad?
"Yes Natsu, she was." Loke answered, startling the dragon slayer who hadn't realized her spoke aloud, nor realized the look of agitation on Loke's face. "She was sad and lonely, remembering her life back at the estate while she tracked you all down without any of you knowing. Which is why when a lead on Aquarius came up, she didn't care where it took her or how long. Lucy made it clear she was going to find Aquarius."
"What happened out there?" Laxus asked now, wanting to know what happened to one of his members.
"I lost her." Loke said defeated.
"I still don't think this is a good idea Lucy." Loke muttered to the blonde celestial mage on his left, who merely sighed in response. "You could have at least set up camp for the night or stayed in the last town we just passed. It's like a twenty minute walk if we turn back now."
"No." Lucy said, the determination in her voice evident. "There's no time to turn back now."
"There no reason to risk your safety or health for that matter either, Lucy!" Loke argued back, stopping in front of Lucy and turning to face her- forcing her to stop walking as well. "I know you're upset, and that you're trying the best you can to cope with it all, but you're not alone. Aquarius would not want you jeopardizing your safety for her this way."
"But it's okay for me to sacrifice her?" Lucy retorted, the hurt shinning in her brown eyes. "I know what she did saved their lives, and I know it's selfish of me to wish she were here still. Yet it doesn't change anything. Right now I have nothing."
"You have us, you're spirits." Loke corrected, slightly hurt by the accusation.
"I know." Lucy's shoulders slumped. "I'm grateful for you all, because I know you all are there but you can't constantly be here. I know I should be happy with my job, with my apartment, but I'm not. Not entirely."
Loke understood where Lucy was coming from, having been filled in on Lucy's childhood story by Capricorn and Aquarius herself. Then he also understood because he experienced it in his exile from the Celestial World.
It was the feeling of being ripped away from his home, his family, for reasons beyond his control. Sure he understood the reasonings as to why, but he had only protected Aries and was punished for it. It wasn't fair. Then he was sent to a world full of people all around him, put in a guild where he was cared for yet it was never enough to soothe the ache of the loneliness her felt.
The homesickness. He of course had acted like everything was okay, blended in and smiled while secretly being in pain for being in the human world for so long. Their situations were nearly the same, with a few twisted details and opposite worlds.
He understood now that he thought about it.
"You aren't alone, Lucy." Loke gave her a sad smile, brushing her long strand if blonde hair behind her ear. "I know we can't be with you constantly, but we are always watching. Plus you have people who care, like your boss. Make new memories, don't hold on so tightly to the past. It will snuff out your light."
Lucy's eyes teared up and she nodded slightly, feeling a weird relief that someone could understand the emotions she couldn't put into words.
"We are going to go back to town, where you are going to rest and eat so we can continue this adventure. Aquarius's key isn't going anywhere soon, okay?" Loke chided softly, earning a nodded- much to his relief. He thought she would argue with him again.
"I'm afraid that's where you're wrong, lion boy." A voice interrupted, startling both Lucy and Loke to turn around to find a man and woman blocking their path.
Hearing rustling on the other side, Loke turned his head to see another man and woman had blocked the other side of them. Was this an ambush to rob them or was it a dark guild? Whatever it was, Loke had a bad feeling.
"Open, gate of the maiden- Virgo!" Lucy yelled out, but nothing happened. "What the hell?" Lucy frowned, whipping her head around to a man with blonde hair chuckling. Her brown eyes narrowed in anger, "What the hell did you do to my magic!?"
He only smirked and put a finger to his lips, "It's a secret, Princess."
Loke snarled at someone using his nickname for Lucy so loosely. It pissed Loke off to no end when the man took a step forward and Lucy took a step back to grip her whip. Taking his own . step forward, hand igniting to throw a punch, Loke grunted when his body stopped listening to him and went still.
"Down kitty." A woman purred, dragging a nail across Loke's cheek when she was close enough. "We have no intention of harming you, but there is no need for you to be here. Marcus, send him back and seal his key with a rune to prevent him from coming back until she's out of the area."
Loke didn't like the sound of that, and neither did Lucy- who yelled out his name in a tone that he thought he was getting killed. The reality was he was just stabbed, really hard, and forced to go back into the spirit world.
"I don't know what the hell those people were, or their magic but I understand one of them had magic to cancel out Lucy's and the other had some ability to control people since I lost control of my body." Loke ran a hand through his hair. "I wasn't able to leave my gate until I was brought here, and so far none of the other key's Lucy has have been able to either. We can barely sense her magic too, barely enough to know she's alive."
Arcadios rubbed in chin in thought, because what would the chances be that two different stories would come together? The Holy Knight knew that there were talks about a new cult forming, equipped with dark magic- yet nothing was known about them too much because they were like ghosts. They didn't leave a trace, but they messed up twice. One here, with Loke. The second being in the Royal Library, where it was reported that the ancient vault was broken into and scrolls were missing.
"It's possible that a dark cult took Lucy, why- I don't know. Princess Hisui told me that scrolls of an old legend of the seven deadly sins were stolen, and that someone reported two people with similar magic abilities." Arcadios frowned, needing to go back and tell Princess Hisui this development and idea. He grabbed files he had in a bag on her and set them on the table next to Loke's key. "For now you are tasked to locate them, and update me if anything is found out. I must go back to the Princess now to inform her."
With that Arcadios left in a hurry, leaving the guild wondering what the hell was going on through his head. Yet Loke had already come up with this conclusion that dark mages took Lucy, surprised as well at hearing that Lucy wasn't the only one missing. If this was a dark guild or cult, then what the hell were they up too?
"We need to find her." Natsu says, looking more than ready to storm out again but Erza shook her head the dragon slayer.
"I know Natsu, that you want nothing more than to race out to find her- we all do, but we need to think rationally." Erza says, knowing that this would be exactly what Lucy would probably tell him to keep him somewhat calm. Yet it was Lucy missing. "We need to form a plan, and a strategy."
Loke nodded, then looked at Yukino, "For now, I ask if you will form a temporary contract with me until we can find Lucy. If this is a dark guild, I won't let another Celestial Mage get hurt- much less one dear to my Princess."
Yukino nodded, understanding why Loke would want to ensure her safety while they looked for Lucy and Sting, but also understood Loke needed his key to be there. In the hands of other Celestial Mage who Lucy trusted was just a plus.
"Well where the hell do we start in looking for both Sting and Lucy along with the other five missing mages?" Gray questioned, watching as Erza, Freed, Levy and Rouge sat down and picked up a file to look through.
"We look through the information and try to piece it together." Levy replied, swamping files with Rouge and hunkered down in reading. Even going as far as to take notes.
For about five minutes it was silent in the guild hall as Laxus, Mira and Yukino joined in and reading and going over the files. It left the others at a loss of what to do for help. Well Gray and Gajeel were making sure Natsu didn't sneak off by knocking him out when he tried, and in the far corner of the guild Makarov had disappeared in a discussion with Mavis.
"Perhaps I can help." Mavis spoke, gaining the complete attention of every one else as she went to skim quickly over the files. Humming when she found what she was looking for in each one, confusing the others going over the files. What did she find that they had missed?
"Arcadios mentioned the seven deadly sins?" Mavis asked, looking over Erza's shoulder at the file she had at hand, which was Lucy's file.
"Yes, and gave us these files on the missing mages- including Lucy and Sting." Erza frowned, looking in on the file about Lucy. Her eyes scanned the information of her beloved blonde friend while Wendy healed Natsu's head where she had hit him to calm him from storming off to find Lucy alone before they had a plan.
Mavis shuffled the other files, looking them over briefly with a growing frown. "All seven of the files are on high profiled mages, which is why the magic council sought out guilds to help recover them. More specifically Fairy Tail and Sabertooth because we would be more inclined to help and recover our own."
"What does the the story of the seven deadly sins have to do with it though?" Gray asked aloud, causing Mavis to straighten up with a rare serious expression that silenced the rest of the group.
"It's not a just a story, it's lost history." Mavis says, ignoring the groan of a wakening Natsu. "Nearly three thousand years ago, the Zentopian Church followed their beliefs they had then that people should embrace their inner sins. They believed it so much that they wanted to reshape humanity in the image of the seven sins, who are keys of obtaining the greatest power, Hellfire."
"It was believed that the one who had the Hellfire had the righteousness to control humanity to their whim, giving the power to burn the world down into ashes and to reform it to their liking. The Archbishop of that time handpicked seven people who had committed that of the seven sins, sacrificing them to the seven demon gates who the sins represented. The part that is uncertain is what happened after in that time."
"Why is that?" Lily inquired.
"It's said that the seven sacrifices woke with abilities and their humanity barely in tack, their human lives turned into a dark ageless one. The legend has it that it took them three hundred years to regain the mindset of their former selves, to make it the mission to kill any seeking the power of Hellfire by the means of making sure it's never obtained. All the stories or anything on the seven deadly sins was burned or destroyed due to a different priest's demands, whom's mission was to seal the sins away."
"What does this have to do with Lucy, or Sting or the other mages?" Yukino questioned softly.
Mavis went silent again, holding her chin for a moment while she looked over Erza's shoulder again and stared at Lucy's photo. The blonde seemed happy, and didn't deserve what was going on. Yet there was only one idea Mavis had that made sense why the seven would be taken, and it being seven people missing wasn't a coincidence. These abductions weren't random, no- Mavis knew they were carefully planned. They had to be.
"I believe each of them represent one of the seven virtues, opposite of the seven sins." Mavis answered. "Sabrina Moore represents the virtue of charity, using her magic to help those in need. Rafael Armington represents the virtue of patience, using that skill in political matters from his high status background. Nadia Silva represents the virtue of kindness, since she is a known mage who was ranked the most kind."
"Adrian Vandom represents the virtue of diligence, a mage known for his careful work effort of solving puzzles and curses. Killian Kiryu, represents the virtue of temperance, not really a working mage but highly profiled because of his well known ability to help others with their drinking and abuse issues."
"Sting and Lucy?" Gajeel reminded, getting a look from the first master. The iron dragon slayer shrugged, be was impatient sometimes and wanted to know where this was all going.
"Sting and Lucy, represent the virtue of humility and chastity." Mavis concluded.
Levy was the first to piece it together, "If they represent the virtues of the sins, meaning they are basically opposite of the sins. That being charity, patience, kindness, diligence, temperance, humility and chastity are greed, wrath, envy, sloth, gluttony, pride and lust-"
"That the seven of them are being sacrificed to break the seven seals, if they even exist." Mavis finished.
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